I’ve written about Tap & Barrel in the past, and thought it was finally time for an updated post four years later! The Olympic Village location is one of my top places to go in the summertime because the view is great and it is located in my favourite Vancouver neighbourhood. After eating here, I love taking a walk down the seawall and around the area. If you’re a tourist or showing people around the city, I would recommend this place for their view and vibe.

It can get quite busy here in the summer, especially on the patio. Latte and I came on a weekday evening a bit before 6pm, and there was already a line up for the patio. If you don’t want to wait as long, you can get a spot inside. A month later, I came back here with the boyfriend and we sat inside because it was super hot that evening.

Pineapple and pulled bacon flatbread pizza, $16.95: This came with a good amount of pulled bacon and pineapple, as you can see from the picture! It was delicious, the sweetness of the pineapple balanced out the pulled bacon. I would describe the pulled bacon more like a pulled pork though. I liked how the pizza was not greasy or oily.

Spicy tuna burger, $17.95: This isn’t something I would normally order but it sounded pretty good, so we split this as well. The tuna burger came with seared ahi tuna, sesame lemongrass panko crust, avocado, cucumber, crispy onion, pickled shallots, spicy miso mayo. The burger was not that spicy. Everything in this burger went well together and I’m glad that we got this! Tap and Barrel also has good fries so we enjoyed this immensely too.

While the view and food was great, the service was lacking which is what I find the only bad thing about Tap and Barrel. It was hard to flag down our waiter and we didn’t get much service during our dinner. It was a struggle to get our drinks filled and to get the bill. The patio was completely full so I understand the lack of service, but I think they could benefit more by adding a couple more waiters. I would still come back for the atmosphere and food though. Compared to CRAFT which is across the street, Tap and Barrel has better prices and also a water view.

Yay!

I first discovered Original Joe’s a couple of years ago, when some friends invited me to Wings Wednesday at their downtown location. We ended up going a few more times over the past two years. Since then, I’ve gone to Original Joe’s on Broadway and Cambie here and there after work. It’s about time that I write a review on it!

Wings special, 50% 0ff – approx. $6/plate: I took Latte here for Wings Wednesday. We shared the dill pickle wings and barbeque wings. Dill pickle wings sound kind of weird, but they are actually really good. The flavour oddly works and it is one of the most popular flavours when my friends and I came.

The barbeque wings are pretty standard. You can always rely on the wings to be juicy and meaty. It’s a pretty good deal on Wednesdays!

Hummus and veggie platter, $10.75: To counteract the wings, we ordered some healthy hummus and veggie platter. I was quite surprised at how much veggies and naan bread it came with, and would probably order it again. The veggies were fresh and crunchy and the hummus was good as well!

Garlic cheese toast, $7.00: What dreams are made of! Garlic bread smothered with a variety of different cheeses. It was so extremely cheesy and totally worth the $7. They do not play around with their garlic cheese toast.

Yay!

The boyfriend and I were leaving Richmond, and were in the mood for happy hour. The weather was warm, sun was shining, it was a weekend, and we had just finished our errands = all perfect reasons to have happy hour!

I remembered an app named Brewhound which shows you daily specials for restaurants in the Lower Mainland. I highly recommend you download the app, as it will come in handy if you’re not sure on where to eat. Btw, not sponsored… they don’t even know I exist haha.

One of the closest options was Romer’s and we wanted to check out the developing River District, so off we went! I remember seeing this place on Dine Out, but that was the furthest of my knowledge about this place.

This post is a combination of two visits!

Parking in River District was free, and was not a problem at all. Romer’s was easy to spot as everything else was just apartments and townhouses.

We wanted a patio seat but was told they were all reserved. It was a bit stuffy in the restaurant. Seeing how hot that day was, there could have been more AC.

I would describe the atmosphere in Romers as casual.

Truffle fries, $6.95: The scent of the truffle oil slowly wafting to our table was amazing. Mmmm… truffle oil…. The fries were delicious, crunchy and fresh. We would definitely order this again!
Cheesy spinach kale dip, $9.95: The boyfriend was in the mood for some spinach kale dip so this was the second dish. Probably the best way to eat vegetables.

I couldn’t eat it but the dip looked really good, and he really enjoyed it. It was full of blended spinach, kale, and was SUPER cheesy. The chips were also pretty good and tasted better than your average chips. They were thicker than usual, which might be why?

Our second visit was in mid-September!  The weather happened to be warm enough for the patio still! We saw some cute dogs trotting along the trail, hehe 🙂

On this visit, the boyfriend ordered the same spinach dip so I won’t talk about it again.
Root beer: I thought this was worth mentioning as they only sell craft root beer here. It is lighter in colour, but I didn’t like the taste (I normally love fountain root beer).

It reminded me of cough syrup but perhaps it’s an acquired taste. The boyfriend on the other hand loved it.
Burger bowl: I felt like something lighter that day and decided to give this a try. For an extra $2, you can go bunless and turn your burger into a bowl that includes avocado, hard boiled egg, iceberg lettuce, and corn/bean salad.

I did not regret it because it was delicious and fresh! The avocado is hidden behind the patty. I would definitely consider getting the burger bowl again. The only con was that the patty was on the dry side, although the flavour was there.

Overall, our two visits to Romer’s were brief but pleasant. Romer’s is a good place to go if you want to escape the city, but still remain in the city if that makes any sense? The River District feels a lot different than most other neighbourhoods in Vancouver.

We would definitely come back a third time if we were in the area!

Yay!

The Canadian Brewhouse is a pub that opened in Richmond a few months ago, in the new Central at Garden City plaza. The boyfriend heard about this place on the radio, and wanted to try it out. This post is a combination of two visits!

The restaurant is clean, welcoming, and has many TV screens for sports games. They also have a shuttle to BC Place on football game days.

Despite the poor air quality, we decided to sit on the patio for our first visit. We were quickly greeted by our server, who was friendly and prompt our whole visit.

One thing we found cool was that each table had a button where you could press to call your server. There were three buttons: call your server, get a bill, or another round of drinks. Our server then showed us the smart watch that they each wear, which alert them to the table.

I imagine that it could get pretty hectic for them during peak hours, and if there was a kid pressing it for the sake of pressing it. Or impatient customers.

Montreal Smoked Poutine: I really liked the Canadian pride here, and thought the Canadian flag inside the poutine was very cute! They have a great selection of poutine, and it was hard for the boyfriend to pick just one. The Montreal smoked poutine came with Montreal smoked meat and dill pickle!

He really enjoyed the poutine. There was a generous amount of gravy, cheese, and meat. Nothing to complain about!

Chicken strips w/ side Caesar salad: Y’all know me and my love for chicken strips, it was only right I tried them here as well! Right when they came to the table, I was so happy because I knew they would be perfect. Idk, I can tell if chicken strips will be good just by looking and I’ve never been wrong yet! These were tender, flavourful, and had a crispy exterior. So delicious!

Since Caesar salad has dairy, I asked for it without sauce (I know, I’m weird but I don’t eat salad with sauce). They forgot so the picture above is the original salad that got sent back. Anyways, nothing to complain about with the salad either.

Now, for our second visit!

Slow roasted beef dip: You can never go wrong with beef dip, and this was no exception. I really liked how soft the bun was, and it was also slightly sweet. There was a generous portion of beef too. I was quite stuffed after having this!
Canadair donair: No, that is not a typo — it is called Canadair! The boyfriend really enjoyed the donair. Like my beef dip, it came with a generous portion of meat and lots of gooey, melty cheese.

He decided to get the rice so that we could sample more of their food items. The rice was really good because it was seasoned with herbs. It’s a good alternative to fries if you don’t want something deep fried.

Service on our second visit was not good compared to our first visit. The second time, service was really slow. It took a long time for our waitress to come, for us to flag her down to order, and to pay for our bill. Definitely wasn’t impressed considering how impressive service was the first time.

Yay!